Hillside Cottage

Hillside Cottage is a cottage dating to the mid-18th century, extended and altered in 1966-7. Constructed of brick, with pebbledashed exterior and a tiled roof, it features two pebbledashed chimneystacks and a further brick chimney to the rear of the original scullery. The front elevation slopes down, leading to a single-storey section beneath a catslide roof at the rear.

The original plan comprised a two-bay end-chimney stack house with an integral outshot and a central staircase. The ground floor originally held a living room and parlour, with a scullery and combined larder and dairy behind. Two bedrooms were located above. The front elevation now features three 20th-century metal-framed casement windows within the original openings, with tiled window sills and a 20th-century gabled tiled porch supported on wooden piers, sheltering a 20th-century plank door. A circular window with leaded lights illuminates the staircase, and a similar window on the left side provides light to a bedroom.

The interior retains the original plan form and fabric to a remarkable degree. Structural timber beams are visible, and the living room features an open fireplace with a wooden bressumer and two original plank-ledged doors. An original wooden winder staircase is flanked by an 18th-century plank and muntin full-height partition on one side and a timber-framed partition with plastered infill on the other. The roof over the outshot features rough-hewn 18th-century timbers with exposed rafters and angled struts, and the main roof is likely of similar construction.

The cottage was historically associated with Northcote Farm, serving as a gardener's cottage until 1964. It was extended by one bay to the south-east in matching style and refurbished in 1966-7.

Despite later alterations, Hillside Cottage represents a good example of a vernacular building type—a mid-18th century two-bay end-chimney stack cottage—and is notable for its retention of the original plan form and unusually intact internal features.